I have two, two, two storytelling shows coming up—and the first, Yum’s the Word, is one of Time Out NY’s top 5 comedy shows to check out in June! (Who’s in the other four shows? Amy Schumer, Aparna Nancherla, Judah Friedlander and Colin Quinn, so I’m SUPER STOKED.)

Come swing by one, or the other, or both. I’ll be telling different stories at each.

Wednesday, June 17^th
Yum’s the Word at Le Poisson Rouge
Come for the funny, true stories. Stay for host Robin Gelfenbien’s free homemade ice cream cakes (yes, that’s “cakes,” plural).

7:30 Show (7:00 p.m. Doors)
The Gallery at LPR (le poisson rouge)
158 Bleecker Street
$15 in advance
$20 day of the show
Details here.

Wednesday, June 24^th
So What Happened Was…
This month’s theme is “Lost and Found.” I’ll be appearing with Tim Manley, Greg DeLucia and Michele Carlo in a show hosted by Asher Novek.

7:00pm show
Freddy’s Bar and Backroom
627 5th Ave, Brooklyn, New York
Free!!

Anne Ursu’s analysis of the issues of diversity in literature—all literature, even though it focuses on YA—is the best I’ve ever read.

Well, okay, partly for the obvious reasons: he owns the Belasco theater, prancing and prowling and preening around the stage in four-inch heels and a wig the size of Rhode Island. He jumps from the roof to the hood of a full-sized beater of a car, climbs the theater walls (literally) with one hand, holding a mic in the other, negotiating its wire while singing in practically every way a human can sing. He goes from poignant to punk—legit, flat-out punk—with such complete authority that every time he shifts gears you think he’s found the thing he was truly meant to do.

But that’s not why he’s amazing.

The real power here is in the quiet moments beneath the glitter and the fury, when Hedwig unfurls her story for us, piece by tantalizing piece. It’s like a strip tease rendered in language, and Harris gives it to us with that combination of precision and ease that comes from being truly present: entirely here, entirely now. It’s powerful because you cannot be truly present if you’re worried about whether people are liking you, or still mad about that thing your boyfriend did, or dreaming about the future.

In a theater, true presence is pure openness. And pure openness is pure generosity. It’s the courage to be completely vulnerable in front of a thousand strangers because you believe that acknowledging what it is to be human, in all its glory and ridiculousness and pain and joy and bitterness and warmth, is what an actor does. Because most of the time, most of us don’t have the courage to do it for ourselves.